The story is not a movie plot as it happened in real life and the court decided to give it a happy ending when it ruled that the Kuwaiti woman should marry her Pakistani boyfriend.
The 29-year-old girl, described as very beautiful, went to court after her father and brothers rejected the 33-year-old Pakistani suitor, en electrician residing in Kuwait, and threatened both of them.
When he tried again and refused to give up, they assaulted him and threatened that they would expel him from Kuwait.
The girl, an engineer at a local government department, then decided to go to court to report her family and tell the judge that she would not marry anyone else. She told her lawyer that she and that man had been in love for a long time.
“When she told me her story, I first thought that she was a victim of fraud or witchcraft. It was one of the strangest cases I have ever handled,” her lawyer Hamoud Al Radaan said, quoted by local newspapers.
“But she explained the conditions that led her to fall in love with that man. I also talked to her friends, who confirmed her story. It was a fair case and the court decided to give her justice by sentencing the couple to marriage.”link
I love it - ".... sentencing the couple to marriage"! HA. Ok and why would her lawyer think it was "one of the strangest cases I have ever handled"? Because dude is Pakistani? Or because her family refused? Good for them. For many many years, Kuwait women were not allowed to marry anyone other than a Kuwaiti man; adding to (what is commonly referred to here as) "the spinster problem." I now have Kuwaiti female friends who are married to men of different nationalities. Good for them. Doesn't it all just come down to luck? I wish her a lifetime of happiness.
ReplyDeleteI just met a Kuwaiti/Mexican lady who is married to a Jordanian, her sister married an American and their brother married a Mexican lady. She had no interest in marrying a Kuwaiti guy even though her sons have to have residencies she is happy.
ReplyDeleteIt's utterly embarrassing that her Lawyer felt she was a victim of 'fraud or witchcraft' because she was in love with this man. Would he have felt the same if the man were Kuwaiti? Of course not. It amazes me how some people are oh so 'devout' when it comes to religion, but often seem to put nationality above Islam. I wish her and her new husband all the happiness life has to offer.
ReplyDeleteKuwaiti men have been marrying foreign women (including Pakistani) for decades. What's the big deal? AG - I agree.
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with religion or the lawyer's religiosity. The lawyer is just racist. Most Kuwaitis are racist to Pakistanis.
DeletePakistanis are Muslims, this has nothing to do with religion. Most Kuwaitis look down on Pakistanis.
She's 29 and perfectly capable of making her own life decisions. You gotta hand it to her for having the guts of approaching the courts and not just accept her family's rejection. Wishing them both the best.
ReplyDeleteOT: I'm Kuwaiti and my husband is Filipino. When my dad was processing our documents at the courts, the judge (after giving his approval) warned that while this isn't against the religion or even the law, there will be people in our society that will be less accepting.
But mixed marriages between Kuwaiti women and non-Kuwaiti men are getting more common now, so hopefully this will become less of an issue in the years to come.
I guess the only problem would be the children would not have Kuwait nationality which makes it hard to live here. But my friend who is married to a Jordanian is happy and when it comes time to renew her son's residencies she does it and sometimes she gets a questionable look but her motto is they are not living my life and I don't care what they think.
ReplyDeleteMy sister-in-law married an Egyptian and has a son, they divorced and her son goes to government school which can be difficult but he survives.
I also think it might be more accepting if the Kuwaitiya had been married before to a Kuwaiti and married a foreigner after divorcing her Kuwaiti? There are so many different kinds of marriage here, I love the fact that thru my blog I have met so many unique people.
MashaAllah--- I wish that had been the happy ending for an Omani woman I know---she was brave---took her family to court---and the court handed her back to her family where they have since locked her up in permanent confinement and no one cares:'(
ReplyDeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteThant is so interesting... Is it the same for a Kuwaiti man who marries foreign woman, will the children be Kuwaiti or will they be residents?
Children of Kuwaiti men are given citizenship automatically unless the father dies before registration, then they are bedoon, same goes for any children the father does not register. That's an important reason for registering children immediately as I know of a case where the father died before registering his children and they were bedoon up into their 20's when they were finally given nationality.
ReplyDeleteI was married to a Kuwaiti women and though we ended up divorced because she wanted US Citizenship and I was not willing to go back there, I also found some of the same discrimination. That said, even the Non Kuwaiti women who married Kuwaiti men are not willing to give their daughters to non Kuwaiti men even though their Husbands are ok with it. I know this because I have experienced this myself here. I can understand if both parents are Kuwaiti and have reservations about but when the mother is Latina... Well, as a Latino it bothers me. As for mixed race couples... when I was in the US last about 6 years ago, I remember that there in the Northern States there were less mixed race couple than in the Southern States. I have friends in New York that face daily discrimination because they are mixed race. But then again that's just my experience.
ReplyDeleteWhat's very sad is when Kuwaiti women marry a non-Kuwaiti man, have children who are then the nationality of their non-Kuwaiti father, and have to maintain residency in Kuwait if they plan to live there. Should there be a divorce, the mother can carry the children on her residency only until the age of 21 (I think) and then they'll need a job in order to continue living in Kuwait -- their birth country, the country of their mother's entire family, the only country they've ever known as home. Kuwaiti women should really have the same rights as Kuwaiti men when it comes to marriage and children. Such a shame.
ReplyDeleteThe children of the Kuwaiti mother will become automatically Kuwaiti Citizens when the non Kuwait father dies. Kuwaiti woman are getting more rights than many western woman especially the right to get a divorce swiftly and quickly at court. Also the rights to keep her children under 18 by default.
DeleteMost countries in the Middle East and Arab World don't allow women to transmit their citizenship to children (if they're married to foreigners).
DeleteKuwaiti women have more rights than most women in the Middle East and Arab world
Kuwait has the highest percentage of local women working in the GCC and Middle East. 48% of Kuwaiti women work, which is similar to the Western World's average in female labour participation
Most Kuwaiti women who marry foreign men are Bedu, they marry Saudi men. The Kuwaiti government is trying to get rid of Saudi dual citizens. Dual citizenship is illegal in Kuwait and yet there are 470,000 Saudi dual citizens (who are a security threat to Kuwait because many of them engage in terrorism and have different names in each passport they hold). Saudi dual citizens pose a serious threat to Kuwait's stability. 7 years ago, the government discovered that most Saudi dual citizens obtained the Kuwaiti nationality through fraud (by submitting falsified documents). *------------
When the government gets rid of the Saudi dual citizens who obtained the Kuwaiti nationality through fraud, I think the government will allow Kuwaiti women to transmit their nationality to offspring
Wouldn't that be nice? However, it's not true. I was actually referring to cases where divorce occurs and the adult children of the Kuwaiti mother/non-Kuwaiti father can no longer be sponsored by their Kuwaiti mother. But you mention in the case of the non-Kuwaiti father dying. Well, I have a friend whose non-Kuwaiti father died about 19 years ago and he still doesn't have Kuwaiti citizenship though his Kuwaiti mother has pushed for it for him and his 4 other siblings from the time her husband died. So as lovely as your theory is and as nice as it looks in black and white, it's simply not true.
ReplyDeleteThe father that died was Kuwaiti but he failed to register his children, that's why they were bedoon.
ReplyDeleteSorry, my reply was meant for Anonymous 11:46. I understand the situation you mention (father failing to register the children). I was explaining to Anonymous that sadly, upon divorce, children of Kuwaiti mothers don't get Kuwaiti citizenship and (after the age of 21 I think) are required to maintain residency through work (or school if they can get in) to stay in their home country.
ReplyDelete